The Palace of the Grand Dukes was the political, diplomatic, administrative and cultural centre of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the 15th to the first half of the 17th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, on the initiative of the Tsarist Russian administration, the residence of Lithuania's rulers was destroyed; it was only recreated in 2013. The museum has four permanent exhibitions presenting the functions of this historic residence. Numerous finds, together with models of the palace's development and iconographic material, are displayed in the exhibition on the palace's historical and architectural development (Route I). The exhibition of the palace's reconstructed historic state interiors (Route II) takes visitors into the state rooms, where they can admire the recreated historic Late Gothic, Renaissance and Early Baroque interiors, as well as into a special treasury hall. Route III consists of an events hall and three exhibitions (weaponry, everyday life and music). The first of these introduces visitors to the fortifications of the castle and palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania and to the weaponry collection. Another exhibition reveals the everyday life of the inhabitants of the castle and palace, telling about the structure of the palace kitchen and the particularities of dining. In addition, visitors can enjoy the musical heritage and the traditions of music-making at the palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, presented in the events hall at the end of the route. Route IV houses the Museum Exhibition Centre, which shows important national and international exhibitions. At this historic site, on the territory of the palace, there was a settlement with wooden buildings from the 4th to the 8th century; in the second half of the 13th century part of the settlement became a masonry castle. In the first half of the 14th century it became the most important building within the large territory of the Lower Castle of Vilnius, enclosed by a masonry wall. From the time of the first Gediminid rulers, almost all the rulers of Lithuania resided here. They extended the masonry castle many times, and at the end of the 15th century a fundamental reconstruction began. Originally with Gothic features, in the 16th century the representative residence of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania became a splendid Renaissance palace. In the first half of the 17th century it also acquired Early Baroque features. Vilnius was then one of the largest centres of Central and Eastern Europe. In the mid-17th century the Muscovite army devastated the palace, and at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century it was completely demolished.